Joker

Gluten free fish & chips. Wisconsin fish fry style. Chili-fried cod with jalapeño tartar. So damn good.

Whoa… that is pretty cool

Came home to a box filled with gems from Mr. Gastman at Beyond the Streets. Haven't opened the Martha Cooper boxset yet but I'm super excited to.

My city got pretty bad during the pandemic, like most cities, and a lot of the mayhem that comes with large homeless "cities" went unchecked for several years. Now it just seems like things have gotten way out of hand. At first most taxpayers were sympathetic and then once people started to feel unsafe going into downtown they wanted change. So now, I believe, the city government is trying to reverse. I'll be honest, I don't really pay too much attention to what is going on in the city since I moved out of it six years ago. I rarely even go into the city anymore. The last time I was downtown (about a month ago) Old town seemed just as bad as it was at the height of the crazy, the main park along the river seems a little cleaned up but that makes sense due to all the events that happen this time of year. The rest of the city (that I saw) seemed like a shell of its former self. Hardly any people out and about. Felt like I was riding my bike through town on Christmas day when no one is out. I don't know what the solution is. I don't think making drugs legal or easily accessible is helping but maybe I'm wrong. A lot of folks talk about housing costs are too high and that's a major factor to the homeless population, which I believe to be true, but it's not like that is going to change. If anything rents and the price of homes are going to increase over the years so even though housing costs are high the solution can't be "lower rents". It's just not going to happen. Just like gas won't go to $2 a gallon if oil prices were to miraculously lower. So I suppose the answer is temporary housing with resources to get people back on their feet. I don't know what that looks like, though. I'm obviously zero help and add nothing to the conversation.

Further, we’ve helped all the toys who have come to 12oz seeking guidance and they no longer fit the description of a toy. @E_B_A - I take my approach in this thread seriously and will not jump to another forum because things appear to have slowed down. On the contrary, I’m invested in 12oz and what little slice I’ve cut out for myself within this forum, especially this thread. I wish you the best of luck in your little slice.

I said it once on the Instagrams, but I’ll repeat it here: I could look at your outlines all day, every day. Incredible. @ASTISMI remember there being a Babble thread but I can’t recall what it was about. Are we just sharing outlines or sharing whatever might be inspirational?

@Wyeast The Gorge White House is one of my favorite places to go when I'm out that way. Often the wife and I will make a day trip out of it and just hang out there for hours when it's a beautiful day. Actually, just did that a few weeks ago. They have great ciders on tap, the food truck offers pretty good food, and the setting/scenery is pretty spectacular. The only drawback is that it's become quite the popular spot over the last two years, especially on a nice day. Won't keep me from going though. Fox Tail Cider is just up the road and has some good ciders as well but your view is a parking lot and the road, not as beautiful as The Gorger Whitehouse.

@One Man Banned I have not tried mead yet. I've been to several breweries that had mead on tap or available in bottles but I've made the leap to give it a try. I've heard it's an acquired taste but I've also heard it tastes like a cider/beer mix. So one of these days I just need to give it a go. And totally fine to post that here. 😁

Oh, you know dang well I ordered one. When my wife sees yet another black tee added to my closet she's gonna shake her head. Closet full of black, grey, and white. Real imaginative for a creative.

Loving those sketches and letter studies.

While some of the technology featured in that video seems over the top it's still pretty cool that not only is it possible but also not far from being standard equipment. Maybe not in my life time but I do see that kind of tech coming. That said, the one thing that got me excited the most was the ability to drop myself off at the start of a MTB trail and have my vehicle drive itself to my finishing point so I don't have to ride all the way back to my car. Being able to do a point A to point B bike ride and not have to ride back to A would be amazing.

There’s a writer on Instagram named Mr. Baker, or Mr. Bakeroner, something like that. He has a bunch of really good brushes that are exactly like all the spray paint tips out there. I think he also has some chisel tip marker brushes as well. It’s been a while since I’ve been on Instagram but I also recall him posting templates for drawing on. Stuff like subway cars and walls. I think there’s even 3D templates to draw on.

Thanks for informing me. I admit that I assumed it was more of the same shit groups that have destroyed the city of Portland since the language and identity are basically the same as the others who have burned Portland. That said, I stand by what I said. These groups have destroyed a once great city, and the city leadership allowed them to get away with it. They’re both to blame and both can rot. I wish nothing but a lifetime of stubbed toes and paper cuts for all of them.

Currently on season two of this one. First one was pretty good so figured I'd give season two a try.

Portland (Multnomah County) was a beautiful, thriving city with lots on offer for just about everyone. Sure, it's become an outrageously expensive county to live in over the last ten years but that doesn't seem to have slowed anyone down from moving here, or developers from putting up a ton of new 5-over-1 apartments and condo towers. Cut to the pandemic and Rachel Corrie and all her little fucktard friends were given the key to the city and allowed to completely destroy it. Night after night you'd see video footage of large groups of Antifa and Ghost Brigade walking up and down streets smashing every window in every building and every car, and spray painting dumb-ass shit on everything, all while a group of cops slowly followed behind. Every, fucking, night. Cops never did a damn thing to stop it. At the same time the 'Occupy' shit was happening at the federal building in downtown where the nightly damage was so bad the federal government eventually put up the craziest barricade I've seen to keep people from getting to the building. So instead of destroying the building they instead destroyed the three parks adjacent to the federal building, and every building that surrounds it. This went unchecked for months. Eventually business owner after business owner pulled out of Multnomah County and took their tax dollars elsewhere. I'm talking large office complexes, big department stores, tons of small businesses, and more restaurants than you can count. At the same time people moved out of the city by the hundreds while homeless people moved in and took over every park, complete sidewalk takeovers, some were living in public bathrooms. It was fucking crazy. In the last six months the Portland City Council and city government have realized their error and are trying to rebuild but Rachel Corrie and friends keep popping their heads up now and then to remind them they're not done having fun. Until the police are allowed to arrest and the DA is allowed to prosecute the city of Portland will continue to fall even further. Thankfully my wife and I saw the writing on the wall a few years before and moved about fifteen minutes south of downtown, and most importantly, in another county. We pay less taxes, a lot of the cool/fun businesses & amazing restaurants from Portland relocated out here, and because where we now live is technically a small town the police don't fuck around. Like, at all. I know a lot of you hate cops but when I need one I want to know they'll be there in a timely manner. Portland... you call the police and you're lucky if they show up within 45 minutes, if at all. And that's not an exaggeration. It's why the city and the highways/freeways that wind through it are completely bombed. So fuck that Ghost Brigade shit. I wish nothing but ill will for all of them for destroying an amazing city.

This just came up on my Youtube feed. Something @STYLEISKINGmight like:

I have absolutely no idea how to create music. I admit that I was one of those people who thought making beats and building a song on a computer would be super-easy only to learn that it is not. It is frustrating to see someone tap a few buttons and there's a body-moving song underway, even when it's parts of an existing song. One of those people is Red Means Recording. I have been following his Youtube channel for a few years and while I have no idea what he's doing to create these songs I am always drawn into his videos, especially the ones where he uses the Teenage Engineering OP-1. Just watching him push buttons for thirty minutes to create beats and build a song is enjoyable, for some reason. Anyway, his latest video is really good. I confess I didn't know who CLPPNG was prior to this video, but then I haven't really listened to or kept up with Hip-Hop since the very early 90s. After looking into them I was kind of in awe that they aren't bigger than they are. Wanted to share this but wasn't sure where to put it. Thought this thread might be a good place.

Living in Nike's backyard for the last thirty years has been eye-opening with regard to the company and their designs. Every time I bring up how I like something Nike has designed a designer friend always... always points me to where they got the idea. I used to love ACG apparel for their cool, innovative approach to apparel design, especially their jackets, even though I'd never wear any of it. Then not too long ago a fellow designer made me aware of Massimo Osti and all it became very clear that the apparel designers for ACG probably had this book on their desks at all times:

Random thought or rant? You tell me. I've been working in a shared office space for the last two years. It's the same concept as a wework space just a different name. In the two years I've been here I've had plenty of shared bathroom experience to walk away with several head-tilting thoughts. 1. The number of men leaving the shitter and not washing their hands is mind boggling. In a week I will witness at least a handful of men walk up the sink (where I'm washing my hands, like a fucking hero) and fix their hair, rub their hands on their face, fix their shirt or whatever... then leave without washing their hands. I've seen several guys not wash their hands after wee-wees either but nasty doesn't bother me so much, probably because I do it from time to time, especially when traveling on the road and have to piss at a truck stop. It leads me to wonder: are parents not teaching their kids to wash their hands after poopy-doos? Or are these grown men just so damn busy that they can't be bothered to clean themselves? Or is there some weird social media hand washing backlash that I'm not aware of? 2. I've witnessed (or rather heard, I guess) several men walk into the shitter, stand there and piss into the toilet, then sit down for poopy-doos. Like... is there something wrong with sitting down to pee before poops? Do guys think someone might find out they're a wizz-sitter and think they're legit gay? What's happening here? 3. Conference calls on the shitter. Fucking c'mon, dude. Really? Gross on so many levels, but do these guys think no one can tell they're in the toilet? Especially when they flush!?!? This is easily the thing I witness most often. 4. Pubic hair in the urinal. There's either one guy or several but I would imagine by now they're smooth as a baby's bottom down there with the amount of pubes that are piled up in the urinal. It's like a wet pile of kindling. Not to mention... are they fucking grabbing gobs of hair when peeing? And grabbing soooo much and tugging hard enough to rip it all out seems so weird. Every dark hair guy I see in the halls I think to myself "Are you the one with pubic alopecia?". 5. Used paper towels on the floor. Alright... what's happening here? You're one of the good ones who washes their hands after touching their naughty bits, you pull down some paper towels to dry off, and then what... you can't be bothered to put those used towels in the bin not 24" away from you? You just throw them into a pile on the floor next to the bin. I'll give you the benefit that maybe the towel fell out of your hands before you reached the bin. Awwwwwwww, that fucking sucks, man. Hey, here's a thought... grab another paper towel and pick it up. Quit being a lazy pile. 6. And finally, I don't understand how so much water gets on the floor and mirror. Are, like, two guys in there each at a sink at the opposite end of the counter and having a splash fight a couple times an hour? Are they washing their hands and then flicking the water at the floor/mirror to dry them off instead of the towels? I'm so confused.

Count me in

I’ve had the Sennheiser PCX 550-II wireless over-ear headphones and the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 earbuds for about a year now. My take is the sound in both headphones are absolutely incredible. The over-ear headphones are so damn good that I might be in a long state of mourning when they eventually die. They’re comfortable on my head for hours, battery life is really good, noise-canceling is great (especially on the plane), and controls are perfectly placed. I love that volume control is sliding my finger up or down on the outside of the ear cover… simple, but I’m easy to please. The earbuds are just as good for all the same reasons mentioned above but I will say the one thing that bugs me is that no matter what size silicon ear tips I use the right side ear bud unseats with the slightest jaw movement. That’s clearly an issue with me and not the tech but it still bugs me. Highly recommend both.

The two bottles that I'm currently taking my time with. The Kentucky Owl is really, really good. And the Black Maple Hill I had one night while at a local theatre (that has a bar inside) waiting for a friend. I saw the bottle, never heard of it, saw that it was local so I decided to give it a try. Fell in love with it. I believe they eventually sold to a bigger distillery so while still small batch I've heard it's not the same. I bought two bottles before the sell off so I haven't tried the new stuff yet but I'm hoping that it's just folks perception and not reality.

A lot of Yacht Rock. Like, a lot.

Almost done with season 1. Pretty good so far.